Rising Dragon
by Kazo the Hedgehog
Summary: Upon recovering from Akuma's surprise attack, Ryu finds himself in the middle of Konoha! What kind of challenges await the wondering warrior in a land of shinobi?
1. Landing in Konoha

Ryu groaned as he opened his eyes. His stomach still ached from the kick that Akuma performed. Seemed like the Master of the Fist really wanted to fight Asura by himself.

From what he could see, he was in a large town or village of some kind. Except for the large tower looming in the distance, all the houses around were no bigger than two stories tall. They each shared a mostly common feature of red roofs and lumber siding. A few people seemed to have cast him worried looks, but faded away when they realized he was alright. Ryu grunted as he made his way into a standing position so he could get a better look around. However, when he caught his reflection in a store window, he received a huge shock. While his uniform was still the same—white gi, red headband, no shoes—everything looked… new! The gi showed no signs of the wear and tear it had accumulated over the years.

Steeling his expression, he stepped closer to the window, unable to keep his eyes from widening.

'I'm… young?!' Ryu mentally shouted, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Staring back at him was _not_ a visage of his mature features! He looked more like a young teenager! His face had lost its ruggedness, having regained a small amount of the baby-fat he had shed when he was fifteen. His muscles, while still much bigger than most of the people walking around, were substantially smaller than they were normally. His gaze drifted up, noting the silkier appearance of his brown hair. It too looked more youthful than before, catching the light in a way he wasn't used to seeing. It was then that he also noticed his height meant to match, seeing he was quite a few inches shorter than before.

'Now that I think about it, this is exactly how I looked when I was fourteen! But… how?!' It couldn't have been Asura… Akuma had distracted him plenty with his imposing entrance.

_Whiiiiirrrr!_

Ryu was broken from his musings as a battle cry broke the silence, accompanied by a strange whistling noise. He moved to the side just as what seemed to be a large shuriken passed right by where his head was.

He quickly got into a stance as he whipped his body to the direction the shuriken was thrown from. The assailant was a man, looking around the age of twenty-two, yet he had shoulder length gray hair. His skin was slightly pale, and he wore a blue bandana with some sort of symbol on it.

"Hehe. Looks like you'll be tough after all, kid," the man said with a cocky smirk.

"Who are you? Where is this? Why are you attacking me?" Ryu mentally caught himself. He normally wasn't this chatty to a stranger… not since he thought Master Gouken was murdered. So why was he talking so much now? The man let out a chuckle.

"So many questions. My name is Mizuki, you're in Konoha, and I'm attacking you to see if you're as tough as you look. Strange, I know, but I'm bored. Boredom can lead a man to do strange things." Ryu's eyes narrowed. This man didn't seem like an agent of Bison or S.I.N, and he never heard of a Konoha. He must have been kicked into yet another dimension.

"If it's a fight you're looking for, then I'll give you one."

"That's more like it!" Mizuki said as he leapt over Ryu and landed by the shuriken, picking it up and charging at Ryu. Ryu never faltered from his stance and waited for the shinobi to come to him. When he was in striking range, Ryu sent a standing roundhouse kick at Mizuki, who leapt over it and sailed over Ryu. At the pinnacle of the leap, Mizuki sent his shuriken toward the wandering warrior, who hopped to the side to dodge it. Ryu then ran to Mizuki and leapt into the air, ready to send a flying kick into the gray-haired shinobi when he landed.

However, as soon as Mizuki touched the ground, he ducked, causing Ryu to sail over his head and crash through a window. The warrior landed on his feet and rolled to avoid getting hurt. Standing up, he realized the occupants of the house were staring at him with curious shock written on their faces.

"My apologies," Ryu stated as he bowed to them. He ran out the door to face his new foe. Mizuki smirked when Ryu got back in range.

"You're a decent taijutsu user, but even I can tell you have no chakra!" he taunted as he leapt up. "You can't hit me without any!" Ryu wondered for a split second was this 'chakra' his opponent was talking about, but he quickly shook the thoughts aside as he prepared his famous anti-air attack.

"Shoryuken!" the world champion called out as he took off like a rocket, holding out a fist and catching Mizuki under his chin. The force knocked the ninja back into a roof, leaving a sizeable dent in it.

Mizuki inwardly seethed. Now he was pissed! Here he was, a decent-leveled Chunin, getting defeated by some unknown kid! And he could tell he wasn't even using his full power! Standing back on his feet, he threw his shuriken once more, and once again Ryu dodged it… but this time not without consequence. A person that wondered too close to the battle was in the shuriken's flight path.

"WATCH OUT!" Mizuki and Ryu yelled, to which the person responded by ducking. Seeing this, the crowd that had formed since Mizuki announced his challenge quickly dispersed in a panic. As the crowd thinned, two figures dropped from the roof and landed by Mizuki. Ryu's eyes narrowed as he resumed his stance. These two were also shinobi, but most of their body was covered by a black cloak. He could only tell they wore sandal boots similar to his opponent's. Their faces were covered by white masks. One was fashioned to look like a tiger and the other was a more common cat motif.

It was the one in the tiger mask that stepped forward.

"Sorry to interrupt," he spoke. "But this fight has gone on long enough. We—"

Ryu might have been distracted, but not enough that he didn't notice another one land right behind him. Thinking the third ninja as an enemy, Ryu whipped around and unleashed a thrusting kick that sent him flying until he hit a building and bounced off. After hitting the ninja with his Joudan Sokutou Geri, Ryu turned to the other three.

"A true warrior does not resort to cheap tricks like those!" he yelled as he got back into his stance.

To say Mizuki was shocked was an understatement. Even the two shinobi standing next to him were mildly surprised. It took a lot of skill to successfully attack an ANBU to that degree… However, unlike Mizuki thought, they weren't going into a defensive stance. They could tell he was only defending himself from what he perceived as a threat.

"Mizuki, you should go. We'll try to calm him down," the one with the cat-mask spoke.

"O-Okay, Y-Yuugao," Mizuki stammered before leaping up to the rooftops. 'Calm him down? They… he did that just out of a reflex?!'

The two ANBU knew words were useless at this state. Nodding to each other, they charged at the wandering warrior, not truly ready for the fight to come. The tiger-masked man threw a punch at Ryu, who blocked and then countered with a kick to the side. Suddenly, Ryu leapt up and kicked off the man's chest and swung his foot at Yuugao, catching her in the side of her head. Quickly landing on his feet, he unleashed a right hook into the tiger ANBU's head. This gave Yuugao enough time to swipe her fist into the side of Ryu's head. With the dazed teen standing in front of him, the male launched a knee into Ryu's stomach. Ryu backed up from the force of the attack. It may not have been Sagat's Tiger Knee, but it still hurt!

He looked up in time to see the ANBU make a cross with their fingers… and suddenly there were six ANBU standing around him!

The six shinobi charged at Ryu and attacked him from all sides. The wandering warrior did his best, but he just couldn't block the flurry of the omnidirectional punches and kicks the replicas and originals unleashed. However, there was one trick he could do…

"Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!" he yelled as he hopped into the air and spun like a top, kicking all six foes in one strike. The four replicas disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the other two were knocked back from the attack. Wasting no time, Ryu ran up to the tiger ANBU and crouched down, prepping a finishing attack.

"Metsu…" he said as he wound back his fist. He lurched forward, punching the ANBU. But instead of seeing his attack connect, he saw the man explode in a puff of smoke, and rather than skin, he felt… wood? Ryu stared in disbelief as he saw a log appear out of nowhere, splitting in half down the middle from the force of his attack. 'A substitution technique… but how?'

With a growl, Ryu turned to throw a punch at Yuugao, but she used her speed to dodge the attack. The tiger masked ninja launched a kick at the distracted Ryu, who was hit in the side. Ryu tried to retaliate with a kick of his own, but the ninja leapt out of the way. Yuugao used the opening to dish out a palm strike to Ryu's back, to which Ryu threw a right hook right back. However, just as before, she was just too fast to hit. Thinking fast, he turned and delivered a mighty Shoryuken to the male ANBU, but a flying kick impacted his spine and sent him into the ground. With a grunt, he got back to his feet and resumed his stance.

"Is that all you have?" he asked, emulating his friend and rival Ken.

Unbeknownst to Ryu, the third ninja he had kicked earlier was finally waking up. The other two showed no reaction to this though. Instead, they rushed at Ryu, who went back to the defensive. While he was blocking their quick attacks, the third ANBU managed to sneak up close to Ryu. The warrior was so focused on the other two assaulting ninjas that he didn't even notice him. Just as suddenly as he appeared in this world, his vision went black. Yuugao and the tiger sighed in relief when they saw the young street fighter fall face first into the ground. For someone so young, he sure knew how to fight.

The older male walked over and flipped Ryu onto his back, looking for any distinguishing features that could help identify who he was. After a few minutes, he shook his head at the other two. "I don't recognize him, and he doesn't have anything that would indicate he's part of a clan. Whoever he is, he's not from around here."

The third ninja, who had a mask stylized to resemble the head of a turtle, knelt down as well.

"Yeah. No headband… no familiar birthmarks… What is he, some unknown?" He wasn't trying to sound like a smart-ass. It was sad, but true that many people were born out of political range, listed nowhere in any records.

Yuugao removed her mask, a concerned frown showing on her features.

"Perhaps we could get him to tell us a few things about himself," she muttered. "But the question is, where?"

"So, a simple interrogation then?" the tiger-man asked, scratching his chin. "I don't see why not. He seems like he could handle it."

To his surprise, Yuugao and the turtle-masked man shook their heads.

"No. I mean no offense, but that room's… décor… isn't exactly fitting. For shinobi, it's fine. But this young man isn't a shinobi."

"Yeah. If we want him to be calm enough to answer questions, we need a better environment than dark and dreary..."

The older male sweat-dropped slightly. "Right…"

Yuugao glanced at Ryu, who seemed to slip from unconsciousness into standard sleep, judging by the soft snoring. She couldn't suppress a giggle. 'Cute little kid… Sure has the heart of a warrior, though.' Then she had an idea. "Maybe we should take him to one of the empty houses nearby. That should be cozy enough."

"No, it's too far. We should have already met with Lord Hokage five minutes ago. Delaying our presence won't be good for our merit."

"OK… So why don't you go report while we handle this then?" the turtle-masked nin replied to his superior.

"You two wanna be left alone with him for five minutes if your plan fails?"

Yuugao and the other shook their heads again.

"Yeah. I'd rather not be forced to stop holding back just to save my hide…" was the turtle-nin's response.

"But then where can we go? What other rooms are there that would keep him calm but stay in range of the tower?" Yuugao asked. The three stood there as they tried to rack their brains. The younger male suddenly perked up and pointed to the northern side of the tower. The two looked up, thanking their enhanced vision as they noticed a large window.

"If I remember right, that's the standard juvenile room the old police force used to use. Why not there? I think the view of the forest is just the thing for a guy like him."

The oldest ANBU nodded in agreement. "That seems reasonable enough." He gently hoisted Ryu into his arms, resting the boy's head on his shoulder. "What made you think of that room, though?"

The younger shrugged. "Well, he looks like a martial artist. And usually they're all about seeing and being in natural environments. Plus, he _is_ a juvenile." His speech was interrupted as he went to take a step, and a sharp pain rose in his chest. He grunted, rubbing at the sore spot. "But damn if he doesn't kick like someone twice his age…"

The three high-level ninja shared a slightly nervous laugh before taking off to the tower.

* * *

Yuugao stood outside the police room, looking inside with a curious expression. Ryu was seated in a rather comfortable beanbag chair, which was the preferred standard for civilian youth. It seemed that being relaxed made it clearer when they were lying or not, and questions went more smoothly. The teen had his head leaned back, still softly snoring. It had been almost an hour since they placed him in the room.

Absently, she ran a hand through her violet tresses as she waited patiently. Knowing how reports like this went, Tiger and Turtle would be down in a few minutes. Getting the report was one thing, but filling out all the paperwork that went with it was another.

'Thank Kami I'm not the Hokage…' she thought to herself. Alone as she was, thinking out loud was something she preferred to do off-the-job. It was a good habit to keep.

"Yuugao!" Tiger called out. "We're back!" Yuugao nodded to her captain as he neared her.

"So, how did it go?" She hoped the Hokage would take it easy on the boy. He likely would, but it never hurt to make sure.

"Well, he made quite the joke about me getting kicked into a wall and knocked out," Turtle muttered as he walked over, leaning on the wall opposite them. Yuugao smirked. It was funny to see the man having a more distinct work personality. It really livened up their lives at times. "And he approves the idea of a small interrogation. Just the small stuff, and make it EASY on him."

Yuugao smiled. "I already took care of two things there."

"Two?" Tiger repeated. What was that? Yuugao pointed to the beanbag chair first.

"Most comfortable seat in the room." Then she pointed at herself. More specifically, her face. "No hidden identity. He obviously has no idea of what the ANBU are, even if we told him. So no reason to hide my face."

"Plus you don't have a gruff voice," Turtle helpfully offered, earning a small bonk on the head from Tiger. Yuugao nodded.

"Okay… Here goes… You guys cast a jutsu on the window so he can't see you. The less people around, the better."

Tiger nodded and made a few handsigns before placing his hand on the window. It shimmered, gaining a silvery hue. Yuugao silently opened the door and noticed it looked like a mirror on the inside.

'Perfect,' she mouthed before silently closing the door. Taking a breath, she knocked on the door before opening it. Almost immediately, Ryu began to stir. He took note of her appearance, mostly her purple hair. Yuugao stilled for a few seconds. He recognized her sooner than she thought he would.

"Is it alright if I come in?" she made sure to keep her voice as calm as she could. She kept her hands out from her sides, hopefully giving a signal she wasn't armed.

Ryu raised an eyebrow. Wasn't this woman just trying to attack him before he fell unconscious? Why was she suddenly trying to be nice? A trap, maybe? He took a look around himself for a moment. He could feel the warm sunlight going through the window. He slowly sat up, noticing the fantastic view of the forest lying on the north.

As he started to get his bearings back, he could see the room was rather… relaxing. The walls were painted a light shade of blue, and the shelves in the room were finely furnished cherry wood. And he could move quite freely, so they obviously weren't attempting to capture him.

Ryu inwardly sighed. He was getting too worked up. 'Don't jump to conclusions so fast, Ryu.' He glanced over at the woman, seeing she hadn't moved from her spot. She actually looked more nervous than he was. He allowed himself a small grin and nodded.

"Ah. Thank you. I should introduce myself. I'm Yuugao," she started, shutting the door behind her. She sat herself down at the table. "I'm just going to ask you a few questions," Yuugao told Ryu softly. "We're not here to hurt you." Ryu nodded in acknowledgement. Although he wasn't sure how he was going to answer some of the questions he knew he'd be asked.

"I'm ready."

"What's your name?"

"Ryu."

Yuugao quickly noticed the lack of a last name. "Just Ryu?" She wanted to clarify.

"Just Ryu," the young boy confirmed. Yuugao inwardly felt sorry for the boy. It almost reminded her of a certain blond in the village. She quickly moved on to the next question.

"How old are you?"

Ryu paused at this. He didn't want to lie, but saying how old he truly was… they wouldn't believe it. There wasn't any way. Besides, Master Gouken didn't know Ryu's true birthday. They just celebrated it on the day Gouken found him.

"I guess I'm fourteen," he muttered.

The turtle ANBU outside nearly lost his composure. He knew the kid was young, but to be a fourteen year old with a kick like that? He'd be dangerous when he grew up.

"Where are you from?" Yuugao was truly curious about this one. Ryu ran the question through his head a few times before answering.

"Japan," he answered. The ANBU blinked. That was pretty vague. Not to mention unfamiliar. Tiger frowned, coming to the conclusion he only knew the general area of where he lived.

"Last, but not least. How did you get here? We just remember hearing people say you seemed to pop up out of nowhere."

Ryu had the hardest time with this question. The truth… it was just too far-fetched.

"I was battling a man named Asura," Ryu began. It was a good start. Nothing specific. 'Keep to the basics.' "He displayed power like I've never seen before… But we were interrupted by Akuma…" He tried to keep a growl down as he spoke. They didn't need to know about his past with that man. "…Unfortunately, I don't remember anything after he kicked me," he finished.

He saw Yuugao don a thoughtful frown. She was probably going over everything in her head to see what she could think of. After a minute, she shook her head and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper from her vest. She rolled the paper, pulled out a pencil, and scribbled down something. Ryu guessed correctly that she was simply copying down his answers on paper.

"Procedures…" Yuugao sighed. "Like we don't have enough already."

In spite of himself, Ryu chuckled. At least these ANBU weren't all business.

"So… what happens now?" he found himself asking, inwardly surprised at his own curiosity. Usually he just found the answers or waited for them.

Yuugao tapped her fingers on the desk for a moment.

"I… I'll need to talk with my companions outside. I should be back in a little while. Just make yourself comfortable… We have—"

Yuugao found herself cut short as Ryu moved into a meditative position, making his choice.

"O…kay then… Not much time for meditating, but as you wish…" Yuugao moved out the room with the grace and speed only years of training could bring and faced the other two. Even without his face seen, Turtle's expression was easily readable. "Some details, huh?"

Turtle nodded. "Yeah… I knew he was young, but I was thinking more like sixteen or seventeen, not fourteen… Crazy."

Tiger crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I don't know of any place called Japan. But obviously that's where he's from, or at least that's what he believes. We don't have a lot to go on here… I'm stumped."

"Same here. We know he has no last name, so that means he may not be part of a clan. If he even knew his last name, he'd probably find some way to get their secrets…" Turtle pointed out. "But I'm no child psychology expert…"

Yuugao sighed. "I'm going to run this up to Hokage-sama. You think we should have him decide what happens?"

Tiger made a 'hmm' noise for a few seconds, weighing their options. After a moment's deliberation, he nodded. "That would be our best bet. Should I let him know?"

"I'll take care of it. He's a little more used to me. Why don't you two go take a lunch break?"

Tiger and Turtle grinned behind their masks and darted off. Yuugao laughed as she started walking through the hallways. "Ah, those two…"

* * *

Ryu was suddenly pulled from his meditation as Yuugao entered the room once again. He glanced up at the clock. 'Fifteen minutes? That was relatively fast.'

"My apologies if I disturbed you," Yuugao spoke as Ryu stood up. Ryu shook his head.

"It is nothing. What do you need?"

"Ah. If it's not much trouble, Hokage-sama would like to speak with you himself. Just to go over what we discussed and see where to go from there. Nothing big."

Ryu felt slightly nervous. Whoever he was, this Hokage person must have been a powerful figure. Yuugao apparently noticed and giggled, breaking him out of his state.

"Oh, relax, kid. You have nothing to worry about. Shall we?" Steeling himself, he nodded and followed Yuugao. He was surprised as they walked around a spiral of hallways and steps, heading up the tower. Soon enough, they stopped. Yuugao motioned to their right, indicating the somewhat larger doors. Ryu blinked. They weren't all too different from most of the other doors they passed, save the fact that they were a little bigger and perhaps a touch more intricate.

"So, right in here?" he clarified. Yuugao nodded.

"Correct. And don't worry; he won't bite your head off." With that, Yuugao walked off, leaving Ryu alone in the hallway. He reached out for the handle and gave it a tug, which it wouldn't budge. He frowned before pushing on it, causing the door to swing to the inside. He was almost blinded by the sudden change in natural light, but it was a good change.

Ryu entered the room slowly, quickly noticing the piles of paper and the poor old man that was almost buried underneath them. All he could make out of the man was that he wore a red diamond shaped hat, decorated only by two silver wires on the left. The front of the hat had a white section emblazoned with the kanji for 'fire' in red, and flaps on the inside covered the sides of his head After a bit of shuffling, the man sat up, showing his wizened appearance.

His face was sunken in, but only slightly, marred only by two dark spots on his left cheek. His eyes were slightly almond shaped, but also slightly sunken in by age. His goatee was almost pure white, showing he was quite far into his years. Ryu could see his clothing was also themed to his hat. A white jacket and scarf rested over a red robe that was secured around his waist by a white band of cloth. The man smiled at Ryu as he saw him walk in.

"Come, take a seat," he invited as he motioned to the seat across from the desk. Ryu sat down in it, looking very uncomfortable. He was still a bit on edge from the fight, and he didn't know what these people wanted from him. "So I understand you kicked poor Turtle down the street," the old man began.

"Yes…" Ryu said hesitantly. The Hokage let out a chuckle.

"I bet it bruised much more than his pride!" the village leader chortled. Ryu let a small smile spread across his face. The 'Hokage' seemed to be a wise and friendly man, almost like Dhalsim when he was comfortable around you.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance I caused," Ryu said quickly, bowing his head.

"Oh, that's quite alright, Ryu-kun," the Hokage replied. "That is how you pronounce your name, right?"

Ryu gave a nod, glad he wasn't questioning him.

"Good. Just wanting to clear things up. Personally, I don't blame you at all for what happened. Mizuki can be quite the rash one at times…" the Hokage seemed to sigh, as if this was a weekly occurrence.

Ryu chuckled at that, easing up. So there really wasn't any other reason for the shinobi's behavior then. That was good.

"However, there is a question I must ask you." Ryu tensed himself up, wondering what the question could be. "Considering you must be far from home, I must admit I'm concerned about your welfare. So I must ask: what are you going to do now?"

Ryu was mentally shocked. That thought hadn't crossed his mind at all. He didn't have any money in this dimension and he doubted they had tournaments where he could win some.

"I am not sure," Ryu stated. "I don't have money or a reliable way to make any."

The Hokage cupped his chin in thought. That was a problem. From the looks of the boy, all he really knew how to do was fight. How could they—wait. An idea struck him. It was so crazy, it just might work.

"How would you like to join our shinobi ranks?" he offered. Ryu blinked. Him? A shinobi?

"But… I am not a ninja…" he replied, the confusion evident in his voice.

"True, but your unique abilities would be a big help to those already in our active rosters. You'll be paid for any missions you undertake. If you do, I'll see to it personally that I'll give you an apartment. What do you say?"

"…I… well… why the generous offer?" It was a question he couldn't avoid asking. It just seemed too unreal. Here he was for probably only a few hours, got into a fight with official ninja, yet here the leader of a _shinobi_ force was asking him if he wanted a job! It made no sense…

To his surprise, the Hokage stood up and walked to the windows, motioning for him to join him. Ryu stood up from his seat, walking over to see the entirety of the village from where he stood.

"I've been around for a long time, my boy," the Hokage spoke up, his tone carrying a sense of pride. "I've had to learn to be very observant, even more than when I was just another shinobi in this village. I know you have a pure heart. One of the purest I've seen. I won't stop you from leaving this village, if you wish. You have no secrets to divulge."

Ryu locked onto the Hokage's eyes through their subtle reflections in the windows, his own wide with no small amount of awe.

"But if you were to join us, I'd very much appreciated. You don't need to be a shinobi to be a shinobi." Ryu nodded slowly. The wizened leader seemed to have a point. "If you ever run into him, you should talk to Lee-kun. The boy isn't able to control his chakra at all. Yet he's one of the finest rookies we have." The Hokage turned away from the window to look at Ryu.

"So, what do you say, Ryu-kun? Care to humor an old man and join our ranks?"

Ryu thought about the offer on the table. It was extremely generous, and there seemed to be many skilled opponents he could spar against in the village.

"Okay. Thank you… Hoka—" Ryu answered.

"Oh, please. You may call me Hiruzen, my boy. I'm not your captain," Hiruzen answered with a smile. "Now, why don't you go out into the hallway for a few minutes? I'll see about getting your apartment set up." Ryu bowed to Hiruzen and exited the room, but not before hearing the old man mutter. "Damn paperwork. Always paperwork. Never a break…"

Ryu stifled a chuckle as he shut the door behind him, taking a seat on one of the benches outside of his office. He closed his eyes and began to meditate, not really caring if it was only for a few minutes more. It was helping him greatly to take in the new sights and sounds, getting accustomed to the environment.

* * *

Ryu soon walked out of the Hokage Tower, trying to find the apartment the Hokage gave to him. It was supposed to be somewhere in the northern district, but for as small as the village was, there were a lot of paths… It was like a maze in itself beyond the main roads! Thankfully, the Hokage Tower towered above everything else and made a perfect vantage point.

He ambled along the dirt paths as minutes bled into hours. He passed by several buildings, doing his best to find the building on his own. After all, it did one good to get a feel for the land on their own rather than get pointed in the right direction. He could see the sun start to set, causing the red roofs to become a dark orange from the change of light. He made his way around the district, making sure to look for dead-ends before running into them.

Night was falling over the village as he finally found the apartment complex he was directed to. It looked like nearly every other building in the village, except it was slightly longer than the rest. He walked up the stairs, looking for his room number. When he found it, he opened the door.

The apartment in question seemed to have four rooms: a small kitchen, complete with a sink and a refrigerator; a living room, which contained a small couch; a bedroom, and a bathroom. In spite of its small size, Ryu broke out into a small grin. Overall, this was probably the second best place he ever would stay for an extended period. Master Gouken's dojo and Ken's house were tied for first. While a man of nature, it was hard to deny that the easy access to food, drink, and services was enjoyable.

With the moon starting to rise, he climbed into the bed, crawling under the covers and sighing. It seemed that the universe was throwing situation after situation at him, but it did no good to complain. Still, as he started to drift off to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder. What was the next day going to bring?

* * *

**Move List**

**Kage Bunshin no Justu/Shadow Clone Technique (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**: This technique allows the user to create living, breathing replicas of himself. It's much more advanced than the standard Clone Technique, but the clones each have half of the user's chakra, causing strain on the caster. Even the most advanced ninja can only make about six Shadow Clones before it becomes dangerous. The other downside to this is that most of the time, a Shadow Clone can be dispelled with few hits.

**Kawarimi no Jutsu/Body Replacement Technique (Substitution Jutsu)**: Upon casting, the user switches their body's position with another object, such as a log, while casting an illusion over it. The illusion is dispelled when an attack makes contact, often causing a puff of smoke that can momentarily blind the user.

**Shoryuken (Rising Dragon Fist)**: A leaping uppercut move used by Ryu that is very useful. Depending on its execution, it can be very lethal. This move is also used by Ryu's rival, Ken Masters.

**Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (Hurricane Spinning Kick)**: A spinning kick that is great for creating aerial openings and dealing with multiple opponents.

**Joudan Sokutou Geri (High-Level Leg Blade Kick)**: Also knows as the 'Blade Kick' or a 'Donkey Kick.' This kick has enough strength to knock back even the biggest opponents and open up defenses to unleash more attacks.


	2. Why I Fight

Ryu woke up to the sun rising, its bright rays shining through his window. The wandering warrior sat up while yawning, stretching out his arms. He had to admit to himself that he did enjoy sleeping in a bed for once. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he worked his way over to the small refrigerator that was provided along with the apartment. Opening it, however, led him to discover that the Hokage neglected to prepare it with any groceries. He looked around the small kitchen for any form of currency, but found none. Not that Ryu minded; he preferred to earn what he got.

Tightening the belt around his gi, he made his way outside. From what he could gather, there was a stream somewhere in the village. He knew at this time, the fish were probably still resting, so it was a perfect time to go and catch some fish. He closed his eyes and focused, listening for the sound of water running. After a minute of listening, he was able to pinpoint the location of the water. He took off for the stream, walking around the village. As he did, he looked at his surroundings. The village had a nice, simple feel to it, and unlike the modern cities of his dimension, he could feel the chi of the earth flowing around him.

The village was pleasantly quiet to Ryu's ears. He barely saw a soul along the dirt roads, and some shops were just starting to turn on their lights. With the cool morning air blowing through, it was the most peaceful habitation he'd been in. Even yesterday, before his fight with the shinobi named Mizuki, the villagers didn't make a lot of noise.

'Am I grateful for a lack of cars…' he said to himself. He turned a block and strolled down the street, and noticed something odd. Further back down the road heading for the Hokage Tower was a gate with remnants of old tape dangling from the poles. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to take a detour, he made his way to the gate. The tape was indeed old, a stained white marked with kanji reading: Caution. 'This is… police tape…I remember this from the cities. A crime scene at the gate?'

He made his way through the gate, instantly noticing the ghost town beyond him. Rows upon rows of houses showing wear and tear lined the streets. Though, what was odd was that the damage was minimal. It was as if the residents just up and left. But why did none return? Ryu walked down the district, eyeing all the run-down buildings. Why was this area so… condemned? It was abandoned for sure, as not a sound could be heard.

Things weren't adding up. The only damage he could see was what naturally happened to buildings not taken care of properly. He stopped in the middle of the road and closed his eyes. He could almost feel it… A great tragedy happened here… Far beyond the boundaries of the gate… But what could it have been?

Finally, he decided to investigate a house near him. As he walked through the door, he noticed a dried bloodstain on the far wall. He froze as he saw it, a dreaded memory suddenly replaying in his mind:

_It was a simpler time then… All that mattered those days were training with Master Gouken and becoming stronger. No Satsui no Hadou, no Bison, and no Akuma. Just Ryu and Master Gouken at the top of the mountain, training the days away. Sure, it was lonely at times, especially since Ken returned to America, but Ryu was still able to meet the children that sometimes came, as well as the occasional martial artist that would try to take on Master Gouken. That particular day, Ryu had a happy grin on his face as he walked back, carrying a large log over his shoulder. After a whole day of work, he managed to punch a tree into a log able to be used for repairs. Master Gouken would be so proud! _

_He dropped the log into the pile and opened the dojo doors, unprepared for what he saw. Slumped against the wall was Master Gouken, covered in his own blood. Ryu froze in place, his eyes widening and darting over the room like a deer caught in headlights. A gasp nearly tore its way from his throat as he saw that some of his master's blood was used to paint a large kanji on the wall. Ryu's body tensed even more so. He knew that kanji… It was unmistakable. The calling card of the only user of Ansatsuken: Akuma._

_Ryu couldn't hold back the tears as he clenched his fists. Sadness and rage whirled in his body. His master had been killed in cold blood, his corpse defiled just to leave a silent, sick message. That day was a completely new chapter in his life. He was no longer concerned with the purity of the art. He was going to get stronger, fighting only to become good enough to beat the monster that murdered the man that was his mentor. The man that took the place of his master, friend, and father._

Ryu felt tears fill his eyes as he swiftly walked out of the house. He knew it was unhealthy to dwell on the past, but it still haunted him, no matter how much he tried to keep it at bay. He managed to dry his tears by the time he was beyond the gate. He turned and went straight toward the stream, determined not to get sidetracked again. Thankfully, in only a matter of minutes, he could hear the faint sound of the water flowing. He noticed that as he got closer, small areas of large trees were interspaced between the houses.

'I've heard of city parks before, but this is… incredible. It seems this village actually keeps nature a part of its structure…' He soon came upon part of the river system. Unfortunately, it was bordered by cement and a bridge, so there were no fish to be found. He did find, though, that it seemed to flow into the more natural areas of the village going downstream. He went on his hunch and walked alongside the river. Cement soon transitioned to dirt, and from there it turned into gravel with sparse bits of grass. "Wow…" Ryu muttered.

The clearing he found himself in was lush with grass, only turning to gravel as it neared the river. Bordering each edge of the clearing was a row of trees, each of them making a sort of miniature forest within the village. His eyes scanned the river, and sure enough, he found some decently sized fish resting on the riverbed. Ryu waded in, making sure not to disturb the water. That would frighten the fish. He waited patiently as he kept a hand raised, waiting for the right moment to strike. With the skill and precision that only years of training could provide, he quickly reached into the river and pulled out two fish with one hand.

Thankfully, the two fish were a very adequate size, so they were good enough for breakfast.

Ryu let a small smile spread across his face as he gathered sticks he found across the field. This would be the first freshly caught meal he had for a while, so he was going to savor it.

Soon, he had gathered enough sticks to get a fire going. Cupping his hands, he gathered ki between them before firing a Shakunetsu Hadouken. The red ball of ki made contact with the wood and lit it on fire. Chuckling at his practical use of an attack, he took a fish and began to roast it over the fire.

When the fish finished cooking, Ryu grabbed one by its tail and head before digging in like a ravenous wolf. In next to no time, he had finished his little meal. Wiping his face, he stood up, rolling his shoulder as he began to loosen up for his training. However, the noise of someone wading through the water caught his attention.

Turning his head in the direction of the noise, he saw a strangely dressed teen trying hard to run through the water. The teen in question seemed to be wearing a green jumpsuit, with the legs covered by orange leg coverings and sandals on his feet. His arms were wrapped in bandages, although they seemed more for show than for covering injuries. The teen also had some of the biggest eyebrows he had ever seen, which was bad considering his own weren't that small. His black hair was shaped into a bowl-cut, which added more unusual characteristics to his appearance. He wore a red piece of cloth around his waist, but what made it interesting was the metal plate in the middle. In the center of it was an odd design, but it somewhat resembled a leaf...

The teen stopped at the shore, breathing rather heavily, which prompted Ryu to walk over to him.

"Are you okay?" Ryu asked as he drew near. The teen nodded as he stood back up.

"Of course!" he shouted a bit too loudly for a ninja. "I, Rock Lee, am just training! I'm running through the water to build up my endurance. And if I cannot make it through three more rivers before I must meet with my team, I will do 1000 laps around the village on my hands!"

Ryu had to smile at this guy's dedication to his training.

"I see…" he responded. He was about to say more, but the teen he now knew as Lee interrupted him.

"I am also searching for someone! Gai-sensei told me about a new arrival to our village, and how he fought three ANBU at one! I must pit my skills against him to see how much more I must train!" Ryu almost laughed at the irony of the situation. Obviously, Lee was speaking about him. He shifted slightly so he could slip into his fighting stance quickly, if needed. Lee continued with his speech, barely noticing the shift in Ryu's stance. "They say he is around a genin's age, wearing a white gi and a red headband." Lee stopped for a second to look at Ryu, quickly realizing that the person he was talking to was about his age, wearing a white gi and a red headband. He quickly put two and two together. "You! You're the new arrival in our village! Please, what is your name?"

Ryu smiled at Lee's antics, but still answered his question. "My name is Ryu," he answered.

"Please, Ryu-san," Lee said as he bowed. "Have a spar with me! I wish to test my might against your own!" Ryu's smile broke out in a grin as he slipped into his stance.

"I accept," was his simple answer. Lee whooped in joy before slipping into his own stance. The two stared down at each other, as if waiting for a silent signal to begin. Apparently, Lee heard it first, since he dashed at Ryu at a high speed, rearing back his arm for a punch. Ryu held his arm to block, and nearly flinched from the force. Lee had power behind that punch! Quickly, Ryu moved his arm, throwing Lee's out of the way so that he could counter with his own punch, but Lee managed to block with his other arm. The two went back and forth a little, throwing a few punches while blocking, each trying to feel out the other's defenses.

Ryu then leapt back a bit, putting some distance between the two. Lee had a large grin as he sprang forward, spinning through the air.

"Konoha Senpuu!" he called out. Ryu was slightly shocked at the similarities to this move and his own spinning kick, but he tossed it aside to perform his said attack.

"Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!" Ryu yelled as he leapt into the air, spinning similar to Lee. The two attacks struck their target, and the resulting collision caused the two to be thrown back from the force. Ryu managed to flip himself upright and land on his feet, while Lee landed on his hands and somersaulted back onto his feet. Ryu dashed forward to Lee and threw a kick; Lee leaved over it, not realizing how open he left himself for one of Ryu's best attacks.

"Shoryuken!" Ryu yelled as he flew up, hitting Lee in the chin. Lee fell to the ground, but managed to land on his feet. He then dashed forward, managing to land a haymaker on Ryu's cheek as he landed from his attack. The force of it caused Ryu to stumble back slightly. Lee then went for a punch, but Ryu managed to intercept his arm and twist it so that it was pointed down his back.

With a quick sweep of his foot, Ryu managed to get Lee on the ground while pinning his arm. Lee cried out from the pain, but managed to spin a leg at Ryu, who backed up to avoid the hit.

Ryu and Lee stared down at each other, a big grin plastered on their faces. Ryu was beginning to enjoy fighting Lee. He had no tricks and no super god-like powers aiding him. Just pure skill and training. Lee, on the other hand. Was ecstatic that another taijutsu specialist had come to Konoha. Now he had someone to test his skills against and perhaps even learn from!

Ryu took the initiative this time, rushing Lee. He threw a few punches that Lee easily blocked before launching a Joudan Sekutou Geri. Lee crossed his arms into the shape of an X, absorbing a decent amount of force. The force of the kick still caused Lee to slide back, though. He uncrossed his arms in time to receive a hook punch to the face. Lee retaliated in the most surprising way.

Curling up his fingers into a fist, Lee unleashed an uppercut to Ryu's chin and leapt up slightly.

"Shouoken!" he yelled. The force of the attack was actually sort of pathetic. Dan's attacks hurt more… But that wasn't what Ryu was concerned about. Lee had basically almost mastered the physical form of the Shoryuken after seeing it ONCE! It took Ryu himself half a year to properly do it! In his shock, he slipped out of his stance as Lee landed.

"Lee," Ryu began. "You… you nearly perfectly copied the Shoryuken's form after watching it once…" Ryu's rather slow speech caused Lee to gulp, feeling slightly nervous. Ryu wasn't… angry at him, was he? He hoped not… That move was too good to pass up! Lee stilled himself. Well, if he was going to be angry, he would run through the river until nightfall if needed!

'No, wait… maybe I should…' his thoughts were interrupted when Ryu spoke again, revealing he had nothing to worry about.

"That's incredible!" Ryu acclaimed. "Other than a few minor things and mispronouncing the name, you did a technique that… that takes many people several months before they can correctly perform!"

Lee blushed slightly from the praise. Here, a martial artist that took on three ANBU was praising him, a genin that could never to the same at his current rank.

"Thank you, Ryu-san," he replied with a bow. He looked up at the sky and nearly panicked. "Oh no! I must go, or I'll be late for my team meeting!" he turned to run off. "I'll see you later, Ryu-san!" and with that, the green-clad shinobi ran off.

Ryu chuckled as he watched Lee disappear. This village was full of interesting characters, no doubt. He then settled into a stance and began to throw punches into the air, beginning his training regime.

Unbeknownst to Ryu, there was a spectator to their little spar. Hatake Kakashi sat in a nearby tree, the wind blowing through his silver hair. His uncovered eye was widened in amusement. The teenage boy that magically appeared in Konoha was a fighter that seemed to have experience beyond his years. Kakashi knew he wasn't a taijutsu specialist like Gai, but he could tell Ryu was holding back the entire spar with Lee. He then looked at the sky.

'Guess I better go meet with my new team…' he thought to himself before leaping off towards the academy.

* * *

Kakashi sighed to himself as he walked away from his first meeting with his new team. Although looks could be deceiving, it seemed he'd have to fail another team again. Sasuke was most likely too set on revenge to work with a team properly. Naruto was a bit of an idiot, but one to single-mindedly work for his dream. And Sakura… She was too focused on Sasuke to even train. If only there was some way to jump start their desire to work together…

His musings were interrupted by a yell from the training fields. The silver-haired jounin turned to see Ryu still training, despite the fact it was about five hours since he last saw the martial artist. Kakashi had to raise an eyebrow at this. It was rare to see such dedication to training from someone his age… well, aside from Lee, but he was an exception. Perhaps… this was what he needed…

Ryu took a deep breath as he sat down against a tree. He had been training for at least the past five hours, and how was a time for a break. He sat down in a meditative position and took deep breaths, calming himself and tuning out the world around him. A peace began to overtake his soul, and his muscles relaxed from the long day of training. A sudden whistling in the air caught Ryu's attention, and he opened his eyes. A man was leaning against a tree not too far from him.

The first thing Ryu immediately noticed was that the man had an appearance similar to Mizuki, what with the bodysuit, jacket, and color of hair, but that was it. This man was older and taller, and his hair was spiked up. His headband was oddly crooked on purpose, leaving his right eye the only one visible. His lower face and neck was obscured by some kind of fabric—he assumed it was a type of mask, but for what reason he'd be wearing it, he couldn't comprehend.

Cautious, he quickly stood up, but the man raised his hands, showing that they were empty and that he meant no harm. Ryu's posture relaxed and he looked at the silver-haired jounin.

"So, you're Ryu, huh?" he inquired. Ryu nodded in response. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I guess you can say I'm a teacher of the ninjas here." Ryu crossed his arms. He could feel some impatience rising up in him… Which was actually rather odd, now that he thought about it. He usually was the patient one.

"I'm guessing you want more than just to introduce yourself," Ryu deduced. Kakashi chuckled.

"Yes, that's true. I just want to know one thing, really." Kakashi noticed Ryu tensing up quite a bit. 'Must not like being questioned. "I saw your spar with Lee, and I heard about your fight with the ANBU. You seem to be quite strong for a kid your age… But here you've been, training for the last _five hours_. Why?"

Ryu was caught off guard by that question. He always searched for that answer… Why a fight excited him, why he trained so hard. Why _couldn't_ he just live a normal life? Sometimes he looked at Ken and his family with envy. He wanted a family so much, but… Something always drove him to keep moving…. Keep fighting…

"I don't know…" Ryu responded. He suddenly felt the urge to look up, and he saw a leaf falling down from the tree above him. He lashed his hand out and grabbed it. Kakashi blinked in surprise before blinking again at Ryu's disappointed sigh. The wandering warrior opened his hand, and the leaf fell in two pieces. "I still can't tell where the leaves will fall…" He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I don't know why I fight or why I train… I just feel… like I should. As if it has some purpose I haven't discovered… But not knowing is nothing. I'll just keep doing it until I find the answer."

Ryu inwardly surprised himself. Not so much as that he said all that to a stranger—he knew he could be a bit talkative in such moments—but… the words rang so resolutely, even though he'd never spoken them before. It felt… good… to say that out loud to someone else. He found himself smiling, glancing down at the halved leaf resting on the dirt.

Kakashi chuckled to himself. Ryu somewhat reminded him of Gai, training without a true goal. Perhaps it was just what all taijutsu users were like, focusing on improving themselves. Well, if he wasn't before, he was convinced now. Ryu would be good for his team.

"Thanks for your time," Kakashi said as he walked away, unbeknownst to Ryu that he was going to the Hokage.

Almost as soon as Kakashi disappeared in the distance, Ryu saw Lee running up to him.

"Ryu-san!" he yelled as he drew near. Ryu smiled before giving a bow.

"Hello, Lee. Are you back for another spar already?"

"Huh? Oh, no, Ryu-san!" Lee replied. "I want you to meet my sensei! We will even buy you lunch!"

Ryu stroked his chin in thought. It would be good to meet the man that trained Lee so well.

"Alright, but you do not have to buy me lunch," Ryu answered. Honestly, the only person he didn't mind buying his lunch was Ken, and that was only because Ken had millions of dollars to spend.

"Nonsense!" Lee shouted. "You have been training hard all day! You must be hungry!"

Ryu's stomach growled in response, almost as if to agree with Lee. Ryu scratched the back of his head.

"Well… I guess I can accept that offer…" he said with a weak chuckle.

"Yes! Trust me, Ryu-san, you won't regret it! Follow me!" Lee waved over his shoulder and set off at a jogging pace. Ryu was right behind him, but curious as to why they were jogging rather than walking. The wandering warrior found himself going through the small forest before ending up on the dirt roads once again. Surprisingly, as soon as they were on the main street, Lee slowed down to a walking pace. "Ah! Nothing like a quick jog to get the appetite going!"

Ryu chuckled. "I suppose so… So, where are we headed?"

"Ah! I forgot you do not know this village very well." Lee grinned. "My teammates and Gai-sensei are waiting at Ichiraku's! Trust me, Ryu-san, you will love the food there!"

Deciding not to question what exactly the food was, Ryu followed Lee down a few smaller roads intersecting the larger ones, eventually finding a small booth. Through the flaps hanging from the ceiling, they saw a man sitting there, waiting. He was dressed exactly like Lee… had the same haircut as Lee. Actually, this guy LOOKED like an older Lee. Was this his father?

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted as they came closer. "I brought Ryu-san!" The older ninja got up and met them halfway.

"So you're Ryu?" Gai asked. When Ryu nodded, Gai held out his hand. "It's very nice to meet you!"

Ryu held out his hand, but quickly noticed Gai's other hand was reared back for a punch. Almost faster than Ryu could react, Gai unleashed the punch, but Ryu caught the hand mid-swing and turned around, judo tossing Gai back-first into the ground.

Lee just stood there, mouth age, unable to comprehend what just happened. Did Gai-sensei try to attack Ryu? Did Ryu really just counter it?

Gai bounced back to his feet like nothing happened, his grin never leaving his face.

"Ha ha! I now see it's true!" He gave Ryu a thumb's up. "A great taijutsu user has come to our village!" He went over to Lee and handed him a wad of ryo bills. "Treat Ryu to whatever he wants!" Lee blinked, a little confused.

"Where are you going, Gai-sensei?" he asked.

"I must go to the Hokage and request that Ryu be on our team!" Gai responded. Lee let the information sink in before leaping into the air and whooping for joy. If Ryu was on his team, there would be no stopping them!

Ryu was slightly stunned. He had seen some… Excitable people before—Dan Hibiki and Zangief came to mind immediately—but he had to say, Gai and Lee took it to a whole other level.

In his stunned state, he was unable to react when Lee grabbed him by the front of his gi with his right hand. The excited boy hurriedly ushered him into his seat, a string of excited claims coming out of his mouth so fast it seemed like he was babbling out a foreign language. All he really got was a bunch of "Oh boy!" s and a few instance of hearing "Gai-sensei" and "teammate."

Ryu chanced a look over to his left, not having noticed the other patrons. He found it surprisingly easy to tune Lee out when he did notice them. Both of them were about Lee's age, leading Ryu to correctly assume they were the teammates he spoke of.

The first one he noticed was a girl giving him a wide-eyed expression, as if he'd grown a second head in her presence. She wore a pink blouse and blue pants, looking a lot like she was Chinese—similar to Chun-Li, in Ryu's mind. Her brown hair was kept short, with her bangs only falling on the sides of her forehead to show off a headband identical to the one Lee wore on his waist. She also kept the rest of it held up in two small buns that for some reason Ryu couldn't help but compare to a panda.

The other kid was a male. His expression was mostly blank, but Ryu could see a slightly raised eyebrow and a twitch on his lips, showing he was trying not to look the same as the girl. He had long, dark brown hair, which was tied into a ponytail towards the end. He had a headband on his forehead as well, but apparently something else underneath, judging by the straps that fell down the sides of his face. He had bandages wrapped around his right arm and right shin, oddly enough. His tan jacket covered whatever shirt he was wearing, and he wore dark blue shorts.

"Ah… Hello, there…" Ryu awkwardly greeted, unaware if his words reached them because of Lee's yelling. The girl waved back, grinning just as awkwardly, while the boy just turned away. Ryu opted to shrug instead of worry about it. "Now… what do eat… ramen, eh?" he blinked, looking at the written menu overhead. "One miso ramen, please!" he called over.

As a bowl of fresh, hot ramen was set in front of him, Ryu immediately dug in, all thoughts of energetic people thrown out of his mind.

* * *

Gai quickly ran up the stairs to the Hokage's room. Even though he knew it would be impossible for Kakashi to know about Ryu, he wasn't taking the chance. He had to get there first!

He smashed open the giant doors and yelled,

"Hokage-sama, I want to requ—" the words died in Gai's mouth as he saw Kakashi standing by said leader of the village.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted. Gai could tell that underneath the mask, his silver-haired rival was smirking.

"No! Impossible!" Gai yelled. "You can't be here because of—"

"Ryu?" Kakashi finished. "I am, actually."

Gai couldn't find the words to say as his mouth dangled from his face. His whole body felt slack, as if Kakashi's magic words pushed his buttons to 'off.' He stood there in disbelief. Kakashi? Training Ryu?! That was blasphemy!

Kakashi chuckled, amused at Gai's expression. He barely ever had the chance to render Gai totally speechless. Seeing Gai's mouth gaping like a fish was a rare treasure.

Gai shot up, seemingly triggered by Kakashi's laughter. "Very well, then! I will take your youthful challenge, my Eternal Rival!" He finally said. "I will prove that I am the best candidate! I must win this one not for myself, but for Ryu!" Kakashi's eyebrow raised at that statement, but he allowed Gai to continue. Perhaps he'd get a laugh out of it. "You would do nothing but smother Ryu's Flames of Youth!" Gai bellowed, fire in his eyes as he shoved an accusing finger at Kakashi, who simply rolled his exposed eye.

"Hm…" Kakashi pretended to think. For some reason, he just felt the urge to make him continue today.

At that, Gai scowled, crossing his arms.

"On top of that, Kakashi, you are no taijutsu specialist. You specialize in ninjutsu and genjutsu, which requires chakra, and Lee told me he hasn't shown any use of chakra. You have nothing to teach him."

Kakashi sighed as he noticed the end of the speech. Gai just wasn't seeing the big picture here!

"What you said is true," Kakashi admitted. "However, you're missing some major points. Like first of all, just because Ryu didn't use chakra doesn't mean he can't mold it. He could be holding back. Secondly, it seems that Ryu _doesn't_ need any teaching. The kid fought three ANBU and only lost because one snuck up on him after being kicked down the street."

The Hokage nodded.

"Valid points, Kakashi. But that still doesn't explain why _you_ want him."

Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his hair. Gai correctly assumed he was somewhat embarrassed. "As much as they line up perfectly in terms of academy performance, I'm afraid that they are doomed to fail the post-graduation survival test. There's absolutely no way they'll be able to work as a team and win," he explained. "I believe Ryu can kickstart their desire to do so." He then turned to Gai. "Also… although it sounds more of a personal reason, this also has to do with Naruto." His expression turned a little more somber, yet hopeful. "I think that if Ryu is on my team, Naruto may have an opportunity to have a teammate that won't hit him or piss him off."

Gai nodded, unable to counter that final statement. He let out a sigh, seeming to deflate.

"It's too bad we can't all have him…" Gai muttered, missing the Hokage's face light up as he got an idea.

"Gai, Kakashi, would you two do an old man a favor and bring Kurenai and Asuma here?" the Sandaime asked. "I do believe I have an idea." The two jounin bowed, although both carried looks of confusion on their faces. They then vanished in puffs of smoke.

When he was certain the two were gone, Hiruzen took out four slips of paper and quickly scribbled numbers down on them. This idea had to be one of his best, no doubt about it!

* * *

Only three minutes later, the Hokage's slient musings were distracted by a simultaneous group of popping sounds, signaling the arrival of the four jounin. All four wore confused and interested expressions, which was quite an amusing sight. Hiding his laughter with a small cough, he straightened.

"Ah, good to see you've arrived. I hope Kakashi and Gai didn't disrupt anything."

Asuma shrugged, blowing out a small puff of smoke after he tossed away what was left of his cigarette.

"Not that big of a deal. I was only thinking." He scratched his goatee absently, the perfect example of relaxation. Hiruzen inwardly sighed. It only made sense Asuma would be more at ease, considering he raised the man…

Kurenai glanced over at Asuma before turning to the Hokage. "I wasn't doing anything important. What did you need us for, Hokage-sama?" she asked, her garnet gaze glittering curiously.

"As you all know," the Hokage began, "we have a gifted new youngster joining our esteemed ranks. However, let all children, he must start at genin, which means he needs to be placed on a squad. As there are no others, he must join an existing one. The only problem with that is that doing so would throw off the numbers, and it would be unfair to the other teams." He cast a knowing glance at Kakashi and Gai, and understanding dawned on the other two. They all nodded in unison.

"I assume you've come up with a solution to this?" Kurenai asked softly.

"Of course," the Hokage replied. "It isn't something that's had to happen before, but it is within my power to allow Ryu to be rotated between the teams, pending which of them graduate fully. He will stay with one of you for one week before switching."

The four jounin were slightly surprised. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

"So, basically, each of us will have equal time to spend with Ryu during the course of a month… But why us?" Kurenai raised a delicate eyebrow in confusion. There were plenty of other squads active in the roster, after all. To limit Ryu to only the four of them, it still seemed somewhat unfair.

"It's quite simple, Kurenai-chan. I carefully gauged Ryu-kun's skills based on the reports from the ANBU and his spar with Lee. Squad Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten have the highest compatibility for Ryu-kun to be in. It all depends on which of the teams will pass your test."

"What if we need him for a mission and he is not on our team?" Gai asked.

"You can run the mission and circumstances by me and I'll see if it's important enough to break our little cycle," he replied, clearly having thought this through.

"OK… Well that's all well and good, but how are we deciding the order, anyway?" Asuma piped up. Wordlessly, the Hokage lowered his hat and held it out.

"Grab a number," he spoke simply. The four jounin looked at each other before reaching their hands in, grabbing a slip of paper. He put the hat back on as the slips were opened. The person to react was Gai, who let out an indignant shout.

"No! I drew four! How can this be?!" the taijutsu specialist nearly cried as he slumped to the floor. To the other four in the room, the situation was less miserable and a lot more hilarious. Gai's dramatic reaction certainly brought life to the usual dullness; that was for sure.

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, which had to mean he drew one, allowing him first shot at Ryu. Kurenai looked at hers with a straight face. She had drawn two, which meant Asuma drew three.

"Then it is decided!" the Hokage said. "Kakashi, you better find Ryu and tell him."

Kakashi nodded, poofing away in smoke. He reappeared just down the road, noticing Ryu walking away from the ramen shop, already having said his goodbyes to Lee and his team. The silver haired jounin landing in front of Ryu.

"Hello, Ryu," he casually greeted.

"Greetings, Kakashi," was the reply as Ryu bowed. "What brings you here?"

Kakashi decided to get to the point. "You're on my squad for the time being," Kakashi said, not really feeling like going into all the details. "Meet me in front of the Hokage's Tower at 8:30 tomorrow, and then I'll take you to meet your team."

"Oh! Um, well, thank you, Kakashi," Ryu managed, somewhat flustered as he bowed in thanks. Only a day had passed and he was getting put on a team! It was unusually fast for his normally slow paced life. Kakashi chuckled, patting Ryu on the front of his head as he stood up. The martial artist resisted the urge to wave his hand off, knowing that, in their eyes, he was still a youngster.

"No problem, kid. See you around!" With that, Kakashi vanished yet again, startling Ryu for a split second. He supposed it was going to take him some time to get used to all of these shinobi tricks… He went to take a step, when he noticed his forehead felt like there was a tiny weight on it. He reached up to his forehead, eyes going wide when he felt hard metal instead of fabric. In a rare moment of shock, he nearly ripped the headband off in a flurry of movement, stilling when he noticed the weight was on the headband.

Gingerly, he turned the headband in his hands, his wide eyes almost shining as he saw a new addition to his headband: a metal rectangle with a leaf-like symbol engraved in the middle—the same thing on the headbands of all the shinobi he met recently. It was undeniable proof now; he was officially considered a Konoha shinobi.

Ryu smiled as he eyed the metal plate, running his thumb over the leaf. It felt… nice. It wasn't just a sign that he was a ninja by their standards. It meant he gained the respect of the village leader, and so many other people in a short time. It meant he was officially open to experience the world in ways he probably couldn't otherwise.

'Somehow…' Ryu mused as he tied the headband around his head, the metal catching the high sun, 'I think this is a start to a lot of adventures.'

* * *

**Konoha Senpuu/Leaf Whirlwind (Leaf Hurricane):** A move commonly used by Lee. It's a quick succession of spinning kicks, alternating between high and low to throw off the opponent's reaction.

**Shouoken:** A modified, multi-hitting Shoryuken used by Sakura (not the Naruto Sakura, the Street Fighter Sakura), created by watching Ryu. Lee's is not so much like Sakura's. He just happened to mispronounce it just like Sakura did.

**Shakunetsu Hadouken:** a modified Hadouken used by Ryu, Gouken, and Akuma. The ki is changed so that when it makes contact with its target, it engulfs it in flames.

_That's it for now! Leave a review and tell me whatcha thought!_


	3. Dragons, Foxes, Blossoms, & Vengeance

Ryu stood in front of the Hokage Tower, arms crossed as his headband's tassels flowed in the wind. He had to say, he was excited for today. He was going to meet his first team today. What would they be like? Excellent fighters? Masters of stealth? To be honest, though, he did know that he was setting his expectations too high. If Ibuki taught him anything, it was that even ninjas weren't born with perfect knowledge of their art…

In spite of his excitement, though, he was slightly worried. He didn't have the best people skills in the world, having been raised on a mountain by a, for a lack of a better term, hermit. Ken did constantly tease him about that…

The world warrior was brought out of his musing by a puff of smoke that appeared in front of him. When he looked up, Ryu saw Kakashi standing right in front of him.

"Hello Kakashi-san," Ryu greeted as he bowed. Kakashi's mask hid the smile he wore. Unbeknownst to Ryu, the jounin came up with an interesting idea for him the night before. He was almost giddy with excitement. It was going to be very entertaining, no doubt about it!

"Hello Ryu. Ready to meet your new team?" Kakashi asked, to which he received a nod to. Motioning with his hand to follow, Kakashi walked off. Ryu walked behind him, almost twitching with excitement and nervousness.

'Here goes nothing,' he thought as they walked down the road.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was mad—no, pissed—right now. He got up at five in the morning, had no breakfast whatsoever, and to top it all off, his lazy sensei was late, AGAIN! He glanced over to his teammates. Sasuke was sitting, looking absolutely bored. Of course, Naruto hardly ever saw the ninja protégé NOT looking bored, so that was nothing new. Sakura was giving the Uchiha love-struck looks, something that made Naruto slightly madder.

When was she going to see that Sasuke didn't want her?! If only she'd realize that; then she'd come to him, and all would be right in the world.

The blond ninja turned his head and saw a sight he'd wanted to see for a long time. Kakashi was walking up toward them.

"Oy! You're late!" Naruto yelled, alerting his teammates to Kakashi's arrival.

"Sorry. I got lost on the road of life," was the reply. The three students rolled their eyes and walked over. "Anyway, I have a little surprise for you three," the silver haired jounin said.

"What? What is it?" Sakura asked.

"A new teammate!" Kakashi said, enjoying the looks of confusion on the three's faces. Ryu took that as his cue and walked closer to the group.

Naruto then noticed the world warrior for the first time. The 'new teammate' looked about a year older than them, but the white gi showed off most of his muscles, which were much more defined than their own. His chest was exposed thanks to the big v-shaped neckline on his gi. There wasn't much else to him, other than the brown fingerless kickboxing gloves and his red headband that had the symbol of Konoha on it.

"Who's this?" Naruto asked loudly. "I never saw him at the academy!"

Sakura sighed at his rudeness, but she had to admit she was curious as well. Sasuke still looked like he couldn't care less, although Kakashi could see the Uchiha eyeing Ryu, mentally trying to gauge him. Kakashi motioned to Ryu, who bowed at the group.

"My name is Ryu," the martial artist said as he put on what he hoped was a friendly smile. One of his new teammates was quick to respond.

"Hey there, Ryu!" Naruto said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm the future Hokage, dattebayo!" Ryu looked over at Naruto. The kid was hardly what he was expecting out of a ninja. He wore an orange jacket and pants of all things, and it looked rather thick. But apparently it was the right size, and he supposed he liked the color. His blonde spiky hair was just as bright as his outfit. And if that wasn't enough, he had the oddest birthmark. Three lines on each cheek, looking like whiskers. This kid was the definition of nonconformity. After his examination, he mentally chuckled at the ninja. Loud, brash, confident… This ninja reminded him so much of Ken. Even the hair was the same color.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," the girl greeted. Ryu almost did a double-take as he took in her appearance. He never knew of anyone having pink hair, especially that was natural. She had big green eyes, and a somewhat large forehead. Her red dress fell to the middle of her thighs, but he could tell she wore a pair of shorts underneath instead of pants. He expected her footwear to be red like her outfit, but her sandals were blue, just like everyone else's. She almost looked too soft to be a shinobi, but he knew not to judge on appearance. As he rolled her name in his head, Ryu had to muse over his travels with the Sakura of his dimension. The two seemed nothing alike at all, and yet so similar…

"Uchiha Sasuke…" the final member muttered disinterestedly. His eyes were as black as his hair, which for some reason reminded Ryu of the backside of a duck. He wore a seemingly plain blue shirt—at least, it was plain on the front—and a pair of white shorts. The Ryu could feel a great sadness from Sasuke, but also a great anger… and bloodlust. He could tell Sasuke was greatly wronged, and planned to get revenge for it. Ryu couldn't help but think back to Master Gouken again, and it took everything he had not to shed a tear.

"Now that everyone has gotten acquainted," Kakashi said. "It's time for that survival test!" The four looked at their sensei, wondering what this test could be. The silver haired jounin held up some bells. "You must take these bells…" he paused from dramatic effect, which seemed to be working, since even Sasuke now looked interested, "…from Ryu!" he finished, causing confusion to spread across the three ninjas, and managing to make the martial artist blink.

"Um… Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said. "Aren't you a bit concerned sending Ryu-san against the elite of the academy?" She was specifically talking about Sasuke. He was an Uchiha, after all, and a skilled ninja. Sending a guy they barely knew against the three of them seemed… unfair.

"Yes, I agree with Sakura-san," Ryu piped up. "Aren't you afraid of them being injured badly?" The three students blinked at Ryu's words. They sounded like some sort of backhanded insult, but Ryu said them with such seriousness that they couldn't help but wonder if he was genuinely concerned.

Kakashi had to chuckle at Ryu's words. He knew that Ryu was serious when he said that, but he also knew how insulting that sounded, which made it all the more funny.

"Of course not, Ryu," Kakashi replied after chuckling. "I know you know this is training, so I have faith you won't injure them… too badly." Now the three were officially confused. A jounin acknowledging that the boy in front of them was very much capable of hurting them a lot… What could Ryu do?!

Ryu bowed and turned to the three, slipping into a stance.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto yelled, getting ready to run up to the world warrior.

"Hold on, Naruto," Kakashi interrupted. "I haven't explained yet." He took the bells and tied them around Ryu's belt. "You must take these bells before the timer rings," he explained. "Remember, you don't have to beat Ryu to win, but if you aren't prepared to kill him, you won't get the bells." Ryu's eyes narrowed at Kakashi's words. While Ryu knew no one would die today, if Kakashi wanted them to fight that hard… Well… Things could get messy. Naruto, on the other hand, was much more optimistic about his chances.

"I can take anything you throw at me!" he yelled confidently. "I'll get those bells, no problem, dattebayo!"

Sasuke just opted to smirk at Ryu, and Sakura looked on nervously… but with a bit of excitement as well. She'd get to see Sasuke go all out!

Ryu took a deep breath and looked at the three.

"We'll find our answers in the heart of battle!" he said as he slipped into his stance. Sasuke took the initiative, charging at Ryu while the two stayed behind. The Uchiha drew his leg back for a kick, determined to show Ryu what happened when you underestimated a ninja.

Ryu simply held up his arm to block, not reacting when the kick connected. Sasuke was mildly surprised.

'He blocked my kick like it was nothing,' he thought as he backed up. 'He must have some incredible chakra.' The elite ninja then went for a punch, but Ryu blocked it as well. Sasuke noted that Ryu didn't even seem to be trying. He went for a knee, but before he got it up high enough, he felt Ryu's fist jab him in the face, causing him to back up a bit. Ryu then launched a knee into Sasuke's gut before connecting a hook punch to the face and following up with a light Joudan Sokutou Geri that sent Sasuke a few feet back and onto his back.

To say Naruto and Sakura were surprised was like saying the sky was blue. Ryu had effectively caused Sasuke to be in a position that the whole school wasn't able to get him in.

Sasuke growled as he got up from the ground and dashed at Ryu, throwing faster punches and kicks. Ryu managed to block each and every strike easily. However, a small thought crossed his mind as he noticed Sasuke not making a move for the bells.

"Sasuke, you do realize this is a team-building exercise, and that you're supposed to get a bell, right?" Ryu asked innocently. Sasuke nodded curtly.

"What of it?" he snapped. Ryu ducked under a high kick and swept his foot, causing Sasuke to fall on his back.

"Well, you're not fighting with your team, and you're not making a move for the bells," Ryu answered as he backed away.

"I'll get a bell after I defeat you, with nothing but my own strength!" Sasuke retorted as he flipped up on his feet and started to make hand signs. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted before cupping his hand over his mouth and firing a fireball at Ryu. Ryu quickly noticed that this fire lacked ki. It was actually fire. _Real_ fire. And while it wasn't the first time Ryu fought beings that could use fire—The Super Skrull, Ghost Rider, and the occasional demon came to mind—he was surprised to see it come from a human being.

Thinking quickly, Ryu leapt over the fireball, landing a foot or two away from Sasuke, rolling himself into a ball to close the distance. He unrolled himself right in front of the Uchiha, fist clenched for his next attack.

"Shoryuken!" Ryu called, making sure to hit as lightly as he could and not jump so high. However, the force still caused Sasuke to be launched in the air a good distance. The ninja managed to reorient himself in the air and throw a kunai at Ryu. The world warrior simply sidestepped and allowed Sasuke to land.

"Stop holding back and face me all out!" the irate genin demanded. He went through his hand signs again, firing another Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Ryu frowned at Sasuke's brashness but decided to humor him, and instead of dodging, he simply cupped his hands by his side. White happened next surprised _everyone_.

A bright blue light traveled down Ryu's arms and conjoined between his hands, forming a strange blue ball of energy. It looked like chakra, but they could tell it was different. It was… wild… and powerful. The sphere glowed brightly as it crackled with power.

"Hadouken!" Ryu shouted, thrusting his hands out. The basketball sized sphere of ki shot out and met the fireball head on, the two exploding as soon as they made contact. Ryu decided to take advantage of Sasuke's shock and dash at him. However, Sasuke recovered quickly and ran up to Ryu, his fist drawn back for a brutal punch. The next move was almost more shocking than the Hadouken.

Ryu crouched low as the two neared each other, drawing back his left fist.

"Metsu…" he chanted as he threw the uppercut into Sasuke's gut. The force of the attack caused Sasuke to be lifted off the ground, and the wind knocked completely out of him. Ryu then unleashed his right fist into Sasuke's chin, nearly popping it out of place. He held the pose for a few seconds, allowing himself to slightly tap into the Satsui no Hadou. "SHORYUKEN!" he finally yelled as he leapt up slightly. The force of the attack launched Sasuke a great distance into the air. Sasuke once more landed on his back, but in a much more painful landing than before.

Kakashi's uncovered eye widened in shock. Oh, he knew Sasuke didn't stand a chance, but that attack! It was just damn brutal! And that other move… The Hadouken or something… It wasn't chakra at all! He just knew it! Naruto, though, was much more animated. He looked on with wide eyes, his jaw dropped and his shoulders slumped from surprise. Ryu had to be one strong ninja to dish out an attack like that… Maybe he could learn to do something like that! If he could learn how hurt someone badly with one hit, there was no doubt it'd help him become the next Hokage even faster! He'd probably even impress the old man!

Sakura had run to Sasuke's side as soon as the boy hit the ground. She glared at Ryu, her expression having some anger, but mostly shock and fear. She was upset that Sasuke got injured, but she couldn't say Ryu was at fault. Sasuke had demanded he not hold back… But that was insane! The pink-haired ninja made a quick note to not get Ryu going all out against her. She wasn't as strong as Sasuke or Naruto. She knew her injuries would be worse if she was hit by that uppercut.

Naruto shook himself out of his shock.

"Alright, it's my turn!" he yelled as his placed his fingers into the shape of a cross. Ryu recognized the symbol and immediately got in his fighting stance to counter, but to his surprise, it wasn't the three or six clones he expected. Smoke popped up everywhere, obscuring everyone's view on the training ground. When it cleared, orange _littered_ the area. On the ground and in three trees, one hundred Narutos stood before him. Ryu felt some nervousness swell up inside him. This was about ninety-seven more people than he was used to fighting at once.

Kakashi had to admit, he was caught off guard by the sheer number of clones there were… But it seemed like overkill.

Sakura and Sasuke were surprised almost more by this than the Hadouken. How many clones was Naruto capable of making?

The army of Shadow Clones charged the world warrior, but Ryu stood his ground, opting to fire off several Hadoukens to take out some clones from a distance. He managed to finish of ten of them before the Narutos got to him and surrounded him. Fending them off was much less difficult than he imagined. Naruto was a far cry from a skilled martial artist, his sloppy strikes easy to parry one-on-one, although he had to admit the numbers advantage was a bit challenging.

One thing working to Ryu's advantage was that each clone turned to smoke from a simple strike. The Street Fighter Champion kneed a Naruto before whipping around and punching another. He ducked, causing two Narutos hit each other when trying to punch him, and then he launched a light Shoryuken to dispel another.

Landing from the attack, Ryu received a punch from a clone, who tried to follow up with a tackle, but Ryu grabbed hold of him and rolled back, thrusting out a leg and launching the clone into more of its brethren, taking each of them out. Rolling back to his feet, Ryu did a Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku that plowed through even more. When he landed from that, he was immediately the victim of a clone dog-pile. Ryu had to summon some of his 'slightly more than human, but not enough to be considered superhuman' strength to get off the ground and toss the clones aside. When all was said and done, there were at least forty more clones left, and Ryu could feel himself losing stamina already, a sad effect of being reverted to his fourteen-year-old body.

It seemed he'd have to re-train his body all over again.

Fortunately, he could still pull off one attack that would be a great help. He twisted his body almost like he was winding up, and the clones paused when they saw the wind slightly shift.

"Shinku…" Ryu chanted before starting to spin rapidly in place. "TATSUMAKI SENPUUKYAKU!" The spinning actually caused a small tornado-like swirl of wind to flash into existence. Gale force winds began to push at the clones as they were vacuumed up by Ryu's rotation. Clone after clone was pulled violently into the wind, turning into dust. Smoke filled the ki-filled wind, making Ryu a veritable dust devil in the middle of the training ground.

When Ryu finished his attack, he noticed with a small amount of relief that all the clones were gone. However, it didn't escape his notice that the real Naruto was missing. Catching a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye, Ryu's hand lashed out and grabbed Naruto's wrist before he could grab a bell.

"Darn it! So close!" Naruto complained. Ryu just swung his arm, throwing Naruto into the air. Then, cupping his hands by his side, he fired off a Hadouken that hit Naruto on the way down, taking the blonde out of the fight.

Ryu then sighed as he turned to Sakura, getting back into a stance. Sakura stood up, shaking badly as she looked at Ryu, a warrior that just took out both her teammates like it was nothing. She knew, however, that if she gave up, there was no way she could pass this test. She had to get stronger! Then maybe… Sasuke would notice her…

Ryu felt bad as he watched Sakura. He didn't like fighting people that didn't want to fight, especially when they were scared like that. At the same time, this was a test, and he had to treat her just like the other two. Doing any less would just leave her unprepared for the future.

Suddenly, the timer rang, jolting the two out of their thoughts.

"Time's up!" Kakashi called. "You all failed!" Ignoring Sakura's look of self-disappointment, Kakashi sat down and motioned for his four students to sit with him, which they did. "Okay, so—"

"Ryu!" Naruto interrupted. "Ya think you could teach me that Netsu Shouoken or whatever it's called?"

Kakashi sighed, frustration shown on his face. "Naruto, let's save the questions for later," the silver-haired jounin said. "Now, Sasuke," Kakashi turned to the said ninja. "I must say I'm disappointed in you. Despite Ryu plainly spelling out what you had to do to pass, you let your pride get the best of you. You not only wasted time, but put your team at a disadvantage by leaving them a man down."

Sasuke looked away from Kakashi's gaze. He knew the jounin was right, but if he couldn't defeat a single genin—granted, an extremely talented and powerful genin—how could he defeat Itachi and avenge his clan? Kakashi sighed and turned to Naruto.

"You," he explained, "were too reckless and headstrong. Instead of seeing if your teammate was alright or formulating a plan with Sakura, you just charged head first with your clone army." Naruto pouted childishly. Sasuke did the exact same thing, how was he expected to do different? At least he almost got a bell! That was a lot more than Sasuke could say. All he did was get humiliated!

Finally, the silver-haired jounin turned to Sakura.

"You let your fear control you," Kakashi analyzed. "While I admit that, yes, Ryu is a somewhat scary foe, part of being a ninja is working past your fear."

"Although," Ryu suddenly piped up, looking at Sakura, "that is not something one can expect someone to just do." He spared a quick glance at Kakashi. "The fact that you didn't give up immediately does show that you did try to overcome your fear."

Sakura blinked. She half expected Ryu to agree completely with Kakashi, but instead, he was trying to cheer her up. A small smile appeared on her face, grateful to Ryu for doing that. Kakashi just scratched his chin and hummed a little.

"Okay, that's done!" Naruto yelled. "So Ryu, how the HECK did you do that Hadouken!? It's an incredible chakra attack!"

Kakashi wanted to scold Naruto, but honestly, he was curious as well. The reply, however, surprised the shinobi.

"That's about the fourth time I've heard that word," Ryu stated. "What is 'chakra'?" The four ninjas looked at Ryu, dumbfounded. He had no idea what chakra was?! Then what was his attack made out of?

"It's this cool energy stuff that let Sasuke blast that fireball at you!" Naruto blurted out. "Y'know… like what you were using…?" Upon seeing Ryu's expression unchanging, Sakura sighed.

"Idiot… He needs a better explanation than _that_!" Sakura turned to Ryu. "Well, starting off from what Naruto said… Chakra is formed by mixing two separate energies within the body," she started, slightly gesticulating with her hands to accentuate her point. "One half is spiritual energy, which is strengthened by meditating, studying, and experience. The other half is physical energy, which is from the body's cells and builds from training and exercise."

Ryu nodded as he took in the explanation.

"Oh... I see. Well, I can safely say that's not what I use. What I use is ki, which is latent energy that all living things have. On its own, though, it doesn't have much power, so we reinforce it with chi, which is energy from the Earth. Although I heard it is possible to get it from the oceans and sun as well…" Ryu explained. Although… Dan Hibiki _did_ manage to use only ki in his Haoh Gadouken, and that was pretty powerful. Naruto blinked.

"So basically, you weaponized your body's unused energy?" he asked. Ryu chuckled. When put that way, it did sound strange. Although…

"It's not the strangest thing," Ryu returned. "One man I know managed to weaponize his _soul_." Ryu briefly shuddered. M. Bison and his Psycho Power was something not to be trifled with… It was hard to believe that only he and Akuma managed to beat him 'permanently.' Even if Akuma didn't fight fairly. He just came out of nowhere and used his Shun Goku Satsu on the guy…

"Wait, I just realized something…" Sakura piped up. The four males turned to look at her as she spoke. "Kakashi-sensei, you didn't know that Ryu could use ki, nor does it seem you knew any of his attacks." Kakashi shrugged. He had to hand it to her, she was observant. "How did you know he would do so well?"

"That's easy," Kakashi answered with a grin. "You all heard the story of the youth that mysteriously appeared in the village and fought a Chuunin and three ANBU?" The three students nodded in acknowledgement. By now, there wasn't a soul in Konoha that didn't know. Kakashi simply pointed at Ryu, and the three gained shocked looks.

"We just fought a guy that took on THREE ANBU?!" Naruto shouted. Ryu just rubbed the back of his head, an embarrassed grin on his face.

Sasuke's sulking seemed to lighten up a bit after that. While it was a bit embarrassing to lose like he did, at least he lost to some super-genius, not a lucky dobe.

"So can you teach me that Hadouken?" Naruto asked. For now, his team's failure to get the bells was the furthest thing from his mind. Kakashi couldn't help but assume the kid had some degree of ADHD going on. His mind just jumped to the most exciting thing… But his question did get him thinking… Ryu seemed to contemplate it, but Kakashi's mind worked faster, beating Ryu to his answer.

"I don't think you'll be able to perform it even if he did teach you," Kakashi answered Naruto, causing him to frown. "I've heard of ki somewhat, but I'm no expert on it. But if I know one thing about energy, it's this: when the body is adapted to work for one, trying to use another poses more of a risk than a reward. This works for both cases, I'm afraid. Just as you cannot learn Ryu's Hadouken, Ryu here could not learn even techniques such as the Bunshin no Jutsu or Henge no Jutsu."

Ryu nodded. "I would have to agree, Kakashi-san. However, judging by how versatile your chakra seems to be, it doesn't seem impossible you could use it to create a knock-off of the Hadouken… But it's hard to say how powerful it would be."

Naruto frowned, crossing his arms. And here he thought he had something!

"So," Kakashi said, reverting from his serious tone of voice. "Normally, I'd tie you to a post and see how you react, but I think I'll skip that part. After all, you guys did try a 1-2-almost 3 strike against Ryu instead of splitting up in the woods, caring only for yourselves. It wasn't perfect teamwork, but you showed effort. From this moment on, Squad 7 is officially a squad!"

His announcement of their success stunned the three students. They looked up at him with wide eyes, almost disbelieving him. Hadn't they failed? How could he say otherwise now on a technicality?

Kakashi stood up, motioning the other shinobi to follow him. Ryu raised an eyebrow, and Kakashi nodded, inviting him along. The group of five walked a short distance through the training ground, finding a large, diamond-shaped stone on a white platform. The four looked at the peculiar stone.

"This stone has a lot of meaning to the village. You see all these names on here?" They nodded. "Each person on here was a ninja in the village. Throughout history, several shinobi had their name inscribed on this stone. Genin, chuunin, jounin… Dozens of them. All listed here to be remembered for eternity."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Naruto breathed. The stone was littered with names. There were few spaces on the rock where a name wasn't inscribed on it! "What did they do to get on this, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto inwardly imagined how cool it would be to have his name be remembered forever. Of course, when he became Hokage, his face would be on a mountain, so…

Ryu could sense the smile underneath Kakashi's mask was strained, almost bitter. "Simple. They died." The four immediately felt cold seep through their veins. All those ninja had died since that stone was put in place? He turned to all of them, a somber expression visible in his eye. "The life of a ninja is not for the faint of heart. It's important to always be able to rely on your teammates. I'm giving you a chance to work on that. You showed me today that you three aren't as much of a lost cause as I originally thought. You three are the first team I've had that even tried to work together."

"Whaddaya mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It could be the fact that it was Ryu, but before, I held the two bells. Sometimes I would say that the one who didn't get a bell would get sent back to the academy. Sometimes I didn't, and let them think that for themselves. Regardless, they all took my word for it and worked on their own, often splitting up as soon as I said start. They never bothered to think I was tricking them. That's why, when they failed, I dropped them from the program. After all…"

He smirked.

"What idiotic kid would think they could get a bell from an elite jounin by themselves?" His answer was brought on by a nervous laugh from Sakura. "Like I said. You didn't do that. You didn't work together, but you didn't abandon each other. You have promise, and I'm going to make sure that doesn't go to waste." Naruto and Sakura gave Kakashi beaming smiles, while Sasuke smirked. Kakashi then turned to Ryu. "And you really came through today. I wasn't sure what to make of how you'd behave, but you showed concern for the three, even though to you they were mere strangers. You offered comfort to a teammate when she was down. And you show excellent skill on the field of battle. Both are truly important parts of being in a squad."

Ryu smiled slightly, feeling almost embarrassed by the praise.

"I want you four to walk away from here and always keep this in your minds: 'In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.'

"A wise quote. Sounds like your friend had a good head on his shoulders," Ryu spoke, startling the hell out of Kakashi. How did he know that? As if Ryu had read his mind, he answered. "When you said that, I could see in your expression that you were remembering something fondly. So obviously someone important said that to you and you took it to heart."

"Hm. As I expect you four to," Kakashi nodded. "Well, everyone, make sure you're all here at eight o'clock tomorrow for your first missions!" he grinned before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Naruto grinned. He couldn't believe it! He was finally a real ninja! He threw his fists in the air, shouting exuberantly.

"I'm gonna go celebrate with some ramen! You guys wanna come?"

Sasuke silently walked off, his hands in his pockets. Sakura stood silently in the clearing, glancing between Naruto's slightly hurt expression and Sasuke's retreating form. Usually she would prefer to go see what Sasuke was going to do… But…

"I gotta go tell my parents. See you two tomorrow!" she flashed a small smile over her shoulder, following along the same path. Naruto sighed silently.

'At least she didn't go and follow Sasuke-bastard…' He was jolted from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ryu smiling at him.

"I'll go with you, Naruto-san. Lee-san insisted on giving me a little bit of money after last night to get some groceries… But if we have missions tomorrow, I could spare it on a bowl or two."

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Ryu had watched TV in his dimension, mostly when he visited Ken's place in his teenage years. One thing he knew was that TV glorified almost everything. He knew that a new ninja's first mission wouldn't be some assassination (which, ironically, his art was originally used for) or infiltration.

However, he was pretty sure THIS didn't qualify for a mission.

"Ah man, this sucks, dattebayo!" Naruto complained as he painted his section of the wooden fence. His three teammates sighed as they heard him. It wasn't that they disagreed with him, but they could have gone without the complaining. The fence itself was long, surrounding a pretty big plot of land. It would take a long time for them to paint the whole thing, and to make matters worse, all Kakashi was doing was leaning against a tree, reading some book. Ryu suppressed the urge to look and see what it was. Odds were he was better off not knowing.

The world warrior got lost in his memories as he absentmindedly painted in big strokes. This painting really took him back to the days when Master Gouken would punish his or Ken's 'insolence' by making them paint the dojo. Needless to say, Ken did it much more than Ryu, although there were many times they had to do it together… Like that time Ken convinced Ryu to sneak off the mountain they were on and go to the town below. Of course, then they ran into girls and—

"BAKA!" Sakura's harsh cry and the sound of her fist connecting with Naruto's skull threw Ryu clear off memory lane. Ryu looked over to Naruto's section and shook his head. The orange-clad genin decided to get artistic and paint the symbol of Konoha on the fence! That would take more time to fix, since the paint had to go in the same direction. So now it had to dry, and then they had to repaint. "Do you how long this will take?!" Sakura screamed, causing Naruto to flinch. A thought suddenly came to Ryu's head as he looked over them.

"Can I say something?" he asked, prompting the three to look at him. "You guys can make clones, right…? So… Couldn't you have made them earlier and drastically cut down the time needed to paint?" The three genin simultaneously facepalmed. Of course the one without chakra was the one that thought of it.

Sakura sighed. "If I could do whatever Naruto could, I probably would have done it already…" she mused. Ryu blinked. So Naruto was the only one who could do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu then?

Kakashi just mentally patted himself on the back as he read his book. Ryu did more than just make his team want to train and work together. He even did some of Kakashi's job, pointing out things that he should have, but was too absorbed in his book. Definitely one of the best choices he made.

"We still have to wait for this paint to dry…" Sakura muttered. Ryu cupped his chin in thought.

"Sasuke-san, could you use your Goukakyuu no Jutsu to flash dry the paint? Then Naruto-san can sand it off and get back to work." Sasuke nodded, a bit annoyed. He too had thought of his, but didn't say anything, not wanting his signature attack to be reduced to a paint-dryer. Quickly doing the hand-signs, he fired off a weak fireball that dried the paint, and Naruto went to sanding it with a few clones.

Ryu heard the silver-haired jounin chuckle, so he turned around, thinking Kakashi was chuckling at Naruto. But when he did, he caught sight of the kanji on the cover of his orange book. Ryu instantly turned back and went back to painting, trying hard to get that title out of his head.

* * *

It had been seven days now. This was Ryu's last day with Team Seven for the moth, and he had determined one thing. This was _not_ a mission; this was doing an odd job for a random person.

Currently, there was a cat that apparently ran away from its owner, and the four were chasing it down. Ryu was currently the one actually chasing the speedy feline. The cat skillfully ran underneath a street cart with no loss of speed. Ryu knew he couldn't go around, so he instead leapt over the vendor with a quick apology. The cat took a sharp right turn, unknowingly running towards Sakura. He shook his head as he talked into the wireless radio.

"Jun the Swan," Ryu called to Sakura. "The target's headed your way."

Sakura saw the blur run towards her, so she attempted to jump it. All she was rewarded with was a face full of dirt as the cat slipped out of her grip. Groaning in frustration, she tapped her communicator. "Strider Hiryu," she called to Sasuke. "Tora's headed your way!" The Uchiha nodded, seeing Tora headed to him. He simply stood in the way, which caused the cat to run down an alley toward Naruto.

"Mega Man," Sasuke simply said. Tora was suddenly assaulted by Naruto and some of his Shadow Clones. The confused cat turned to run, only to get scooped up by Naruto.

"I got it! I got it!" Naruto said happily, only to yell in pain mere seconds later as the feline dug its claws into him. The sudden pain caused Naruto to accidentally toss the cat. "Ah! Sheng Long!" Naruto called, to which Ryu darted forward and caught the cat, keeping it in a firm grip to keep it from scratching him.

"What is with her?" Ryu wondered as Tora struggled against his grip. "Usually animals like me." Kakashi landed by the group.

"Good job team," the jounin said. "Let's return the lost cat to its owner, shall we?"

"Yeah… The sooner the better—ttebayo…" Naruto muttered. As the ground walked down the street, Sakura turned to Ryu.

"Okay, we caught Tora," Sakura began, "so keep your end of the deal. Where did you get those codenames?"

Ryu shrugged, thinking back. "All your codenames are actual people I have crossed paths with in the past," he explained. The four ninjas blinked at that explanation. Who on Earth would name themselves those names?

"What about yours?" Naruto asked. Ryu hesitated for a few seconds, but relented and answered.

"It was a nickname my friend Ken gave me." Ryu tried to keep his voice from betraying the sadness he felt from not knowing when or even if he would ever see his friend again. He could tell they slightly detected it, but not enough to be concerned. They walked back to the Hokage Tower and entered the mission room, where Hiruzen was stamping mission papers.

"Hiruzen-san, our latest mission is complete," he spoke as he walked ahead, showing Tora in his arms. Kakashi noticed the other shinobi slightly twitch at Ryu's addressing of the Hokage, but Hiruzen merely laughed.

"Ah, well done, Team Seven. I shall alert the owner." He waved a hand at the jounin at the door, and the woman that appeared almost rushed Ryu. She grabbed the cat and gushed excitedly, snuggling the cat quite harshly against her… pleasantly plump frame. Ryu took a few steps back as she excitedly rambled.

"Oh, Tora-chan, I've missed you so much! And you're so dirty! Oh, kaa-san needs to give you a bath! Thank you so much!" She gave the Hokage a large lump of ryo notes before walking off, with Tora yowling in her tight grip.

Ryu sweatdropped as the woman disappeared, then at the money.

"It's an annoying job, but seeing as how Tora belongs to the fire daimyo's wife, it always makes good money," Hiruzen replied before dividing the funds appropriately. It wasn't much, but the money he got was a lot more than what he got from the other missions. He began to ask what they would do next, when the door slid open.

Ryu blinked as he noticed a woman walking in, with an appearance not like he expected. He could tell she was a jounin, but she didn't wear the same uniform as Kakashi. Rather, she wore a red blouse with mesh armor on her torso and a cut-off left sleeve. Her lower arms, hands, and her upper thighs were wrapped in bandages for fashion. She also wore an intricately woven piece of material acting like a second blouse. It was mostly white, but through the middle of it was a pattern that resembled a rose thorn.

Through her shoulder-long, untamed black hair, Ryu noticed her crimson eyes looking around until she saw them.

"Hello, Kurenai," Kakashi greeted lazily. "What brings you here?"

Kurenai looked at Kakashi unflinchingly.

"Today is your last day with Ryu," she stated, making the said street fighter's teammates look at her in shock. "I have come to tell him where to meet his new team."

"Wait, you're taking Ryu?!" Naruto yelled. "Why? Can you even do that?!"

Kurenai turned to the blond ninja with a sigh. "As your sensei obviously didn't tell you," she explained, "Ryu is being rotated between Team 7, 8, 10, and then 9, staying with each team for a week before switching."

"I knew I forgot to do something unimportant…" Kakashi quipped as he stroked his chin. Kurenai's left eye twitched in irritation.

"Anyway," Kurenai then turned to Ryu, "Meet us at Training Ground Six at seven o'clock tomorrow morning." Ryu nodded in acknowledgement, and the female jounin vanished with a poof of smoke. Ryu turned to his teammates.

"I'll see you in three weeks," he said as he held out a fist at Naruto's direction. "Train hard while I'm gone." Naruto smiled as he bopped his own fist against Ryu's.

"You bet! I'll beat ya next time, dattebayo!" Naruto stated. Ryu smiled and turned to Sakura and Sasuke, nodding at the two. Sasuke nodded back, and Sakura bowed.

"See you then, Ryu-san," Sakura said. Ryu spun on his heel and walked to his apartment as the others watched him leave. As he walked, he let his mind wander. His first team wasn't so bad. In fact, he liked Naruto, and got along well enough with Sakura and Sasuke. He just had to wonder, would the next team be the same? Well, looked like he was going to find out.

* * *

**Move List**

**Goukakyuu no Justu (Grand Fireball Technique/Fireball Jutsu):** The user expels a fireball from their mouth, usually using their hands to funnel the technique into more of a flamethrower. This jutsu is a common move from Sasuke, as it's a technique most Uchiha were taught at young ages.

**Hadouken (Surge Fist):** Also known as a fireball, it is the signature move of Ryu. In essence, it's a ball of ki that is launched from the hands. Many variants exist, as it is the staple of Ansatsuken.

**Metsu Shoryuken (Destructive Rising Dragon Fist):** The very same move used at the end of the original Street Fighter to scar Sagat. Ryu taps very lightly into the Satsui no Hadou to power this Shoryuken. If too much is channeled into the move, it can become one of the most deadly variants.

**Shinku Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (Vacuum Hurricane Kick):** This move is using the Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku without moving. The stationary effect causes a tornado-like vacuum effect around the user, drawing opponents in for damage instead of covering distance.


End file.
